How do I jump between matching if/else/endif or other language constructs?

Explanation

The % command jumps between matching brackets by default, but with the built-in matchit plugin, it extends to match language-specific keywords like if/else/endif, do/end, <div>/</div>, and more.

Enabling matchit

Matchit is included with Vim but not loaded by default:

" In your vimrc
runtime macros/matchit.vim

" Or in Neovim (built-in since 0.5)
packadd matchit

What it matches

Without matchit, % only matches: (), [], {}

With matchit enabled, % also matches:

• Ruby: def/end, do/end, if/elsif/else/end
• HTML: <div>/</div>, <ul>/</ul>
• Shell: if/then/elif/else/fi, case/esac
• Vim: if/elseif/else/endif, while/endwhile
• LaTeX: \begin{}/\end{}

Example

def process(items)
  items.each do |item|       ← cursor here, press %
    if item.valid?
      transform(item)
    else
      skip(item)
    end
  end                         ← jumps here
end

Press % again to cycle through do → end → do.

Tips

• [% jumps to the previous unmatched group start
• ]% jumps to the next unmatched group end
• Works in visual mode and with operators: d% deletes to the matching keyword
• Matchit sets the b:match_words variable — you can customize matches per filetype
• The Neovim-native vim-matchup plugin provides even more features (highlighting, text objects)